A few pictures from the lake.

I went to the lake today to check up on some of the ducks at Lake Murray.  I did see Mom of Five (Fish Food Mama) and her ducklings, but it was too dark and drizzly to take a picture of them.  I saw these two ducklings, the last two of ten from the very first bunch of ducklings running up a hill to get in the drainage ditch.  Just after they ran up the hill, a man with his loose dogs came by.  I'm glad I was there to hurry them along.   I just hope the man didn't come back that way, later.

They're starting to get their flying feathers, now.  In about a week, they should be flying.

This is Mama's Little Weakling:

The two sisters together:

I also saw several coot families.  This one had two chicks.  The dad was very brave and when I came up to the water, he confronted me and tried to distract me.  But, as soon as he realized I wasn't going to hurt his chicks, he and his mate went back to feeding them:

The hawklets are just about ready to fly and reign terror on anything weighing less than 6 pounds in that area.  Hopefully, the two ducklings will be OK as they are right in their hunting path.  Several animals have already gone missing around there, including a snowy egret and the two sisters' sibling:

I did not see Neo and Hurt Wing.  It's good not to see Hurt Wing today as three big male ducks were in the area where she was last seen.  Hopefully, she has moved out of that area away from them.  It has also been a long time since I've seen Cinnamon's Twin.  Her boyfriend, Fingerbiter and his best friend have been seen a lot without her.  I have a feeling she is no longer alive as she was looking rather beat up when I last saw her.  She was such a wonderful, friendly duck just like Cinnamon.

Junior, the killdeer was seen hanging out with George III.  No sign of Smudge and Peanut today, but the "Giant" killdeer was seen by himself.  All the killdeer were being extremely quiet.  Junior ran up to me as soon as he saw me, possibly to protect George III, but perhaps because he was hiding his chicks nearby and wanted to distract me.